The Dallas-based W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation will announce today
that it is providing $2 million to improve services for sexual
assault victims in Dallas County.

The money will allow the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center and
Texas Health Presbyterian of Dallas to create a comprehensive
sexual assault treatment program, including a new facility at the
hospital for the treatment of victims.

"There will be better, stronger, more accessible resources for
victims of sexual assault," said Brent Christopher, president and
chief executive of the Dallas-based Communities Foundation of
Texas, which oversees the Caruth fund.

A news conference announcing the award is scheduled for 10 a.m.
today at the hospital.

Backers hope the program, by offering a safe harbor with better
services and facilities for victims, will significantly increase
the reporting of rapes to police, as well as make it easier to
prosecute rapists. Statistics show that one in four women will be
sexually assaulted in her lifetime but less than a fifth report the
attacks to police.

With much of its $1.5 million gift, the hospital is constructing
a 2,900-square-foot facility where sexual assault victims will
receive care. The facility, to open in April next to the hospital's
emergency department, will be the first of its kind in the county.
It will have private rooms and baths for sexual assault victims, as
well as a training facility for nurses who are learning how to
collect sexual assault evidence.

"It's going to serve a community need that is truly unmet," said
Cole Edmonson, vice president of patient care services and chief
nursing officer for the hospital. "It is also going to help people
in our communities who need this service feel more comfortable
seeking it and the citizens of North Texas feel safer knowing this
nurse-led service will help increase convictions in sexual assault
cases."

The money will also help fund the hospital's newly created
Sexual Assault Examiner program for training nurses on how to
conduct sexual assault forensic exams. Studies have shown that
cases in which a certified nurse collected the evidence have a far
greater likelihood of successful prosecution.

"It's all really been designed around what will help the police
catch the perpetrator and what will help the DA's office prosecute
them," said Courtney Underwood, president of the rape crisis
center.

The remaining $500,000 will fund the fledgling rape crisis
center's efforts to provide counseling to victims, friends and
family. The center opened its doors in September 2009 and is the
first independent rape crisis center in the county. The center also
established the first 24-hour sexual assault hotline in Dallas.

Texas Health Presbyterian began conducting forensic examinations
on rape victims in March. Previously, Parkland Hospital was the
only place in Dallas County where sexual assault victims could go
for such evidence collection.

"It's very important for the survivors in our community to have
another hospital where they can go to get the sexual assault exam
done," said Dallas police Sgt. Patrick Welsh, supervisor of the
sexual assault unit.

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